The Aeroplane in War

By Claude Grahame-White and Harry Harper

It is our aim, in this book, to show what the war aeroplane has done, and can do. At present, its work has been confined to scouting. But it has other, and grimmer possibilities. It can, and without doubt will, be used as an engine of destruction—not by means of the bomb-dropping attacks of a few aeroplanes, but by the organised onslaught of large squadrons of weight-lifting machines, which will be able to rain down tons of missiles over any given spot.
Thus—probably waged with light guns firing explosive shells—the next great war will begin, not on earth, but several thousand feet in the air.
Claude Grahame-White.
Harry Harper.
London, 1912.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Edizioni Savine
• Release date: Dec 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9791222041674

Book preview

CLAUDE GRAHAME-WHITE.

CLAUDE GRAHAME-WHITE.

Winner of the Gordon-Bennett Aviation Cup, 1910; author of The Story of the Aeroplane; and joint author, with Harry Harper, of The Aeroplane: Past, Present, and Future, Heroes of the Air, and The Aeroplane in War.

THE AEROPLANE

IN WAR

BY

CLAUDE GRAHAME-WHITE

AND

HARRY HARPER

AUTHORS OF THE AEROPLANE: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE

PHILADELPHIA

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY

LONDON: T. WERNER LAURIE

PREFACE

Although it is still a crude machine—in view of the perfected apparatus which is the aim of thoughtful designers—the aeroplane has demonstrated, in a conclusive way, its value as an instrument of war.

In peace manœuvres in France and Germany, and under actual war conditions in Tripoli, scouting machines have proved their ability to pierce most effectually what is known as the fog of war. Air-scouts have, indeed, revealed the dispositions of an enemy so precisely as to make it necessary to alter—at a moment's notice—an entire plan of campaign.

Ceasing to be fair-weather craft, powerful, modern-type aeroplanes can combat high and gusty winds, and are already capable of being used, for reconnoitring flights, on at least 80 per cent of the days of the year. No longer unreliable, they have become practical weapons.

A squadron of war aeroplanes, carrying pilots and observers, can, as has been shown again and again, lay bare the disposition of a widespread battle-front. In one hour, they can perform the reconnoitring work which has hitherto been carried out in a day, and in a necessarily hit-or-miss fashion, by cavalry and other scouts.

The use of well-trained corps of military airmen will revolutionise the tactics of war. No longer will two Commanders-in-Chief grope in the dark. They will sit, so to speak, on either side of a chess-board, which will represent the battlefield. Each will watch the other's moves; nothing will be concealed. From a blundering, scrambling moving about of masses of men, modern warfare will become—through the advent of the aeroplane—an intellectual process.

The Commander-in-Chief who has no proper air-corps, in the next great war, will be in a hopeless position. He will have lost a battle practically before it begins. Whereas his opponent will know exactly what he is doing, he will be able to obtain nothing but vague and confusing tidings as to the movements of the enemy. Imagine two armed men approaching each other, one being blindfolded. The Commander-in-Chief without aeroplanes will be like a blindfolded man.

One nation stands head-and-shoulders above all others in the matter of her aerial equipment and experience. That nation is France. So far ahead is she that it will be a long time before other countries will be able to come up with her; but Germany is now making desperate efforts to do so.

Until recently, it must be said, England lagged inactively not only behind France and Germany, in the organising of an air-corps, but even behind such countries as Austria, Italy, and Spain.

Now, however, there are promises of a change. For this, mainly, we must thank the energy and enthusiasm of Colonel Seely, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for War. When these lines are being read, British aeroplane manufacturers will be preparing for an important military trial of aeroplanes, which is to be held in England during the summer.

The War Office has begun to buy aeroplanes, although on a small scale. We now have a Royal Flying Corps; a body of skilled airmen is being trained. But money is spent very sparingly. Our equipment, compared with that of France, is still a negligible quantity. In machines, and men, and, above all, in training, we are very far behind.

Only by persistent and intelligently directed work, by the spending of more money, by the practical encouragement of manufacturers, and by the appointing of executive officers who are experts in their field of work, can we hope even to approach the organisation of the air-corps of France.

But a beginning has certainly been made. By the end of the forthcoming flying season, we should have in England a small, but well-equipped air service. And the work of this corps will be its own advertisement. Once the potentialities of the war aeroplane are realised adequately, a stinting policy will be impossible.

It is our aim, in this book, to show what the war aeroplane has done, and can do. At present, its work has been confined to scouting. But it has other, and grimmer possibilities. It can, and without doubt will, be used as an engine of destruction—not by means of the bomb-dropping attacks of a few aeroplanes, but by the organised onslaught of large squadrons of weight-lifting machines, which will be able to rain down tons of missiles over any given spot.

And there is another possibility, also. Machines are carrying heavier loads every day. Soon the practicability of aeroplanes to transport troops—particularly in regard to hurrying up reinforcements in an emergency—will be demonstrated.

When two opposing armies both have large fleets of war aeroplanes, and these machines take the air in squadrons, prior to a battle, what will happen when they come in contact with each other?

The question is one which the greatest military experts are discussing. Obviously, there will be an aerial battle, each aeroplane corps seeking to cripple the other. Each Commander-in-Chief will in fact desire, above all else, to obtain supremacy of the air. If he can do so, it will have the effect of seriously handicapping his opponent.

Thus—probably waged with light guns firing explosive shells—the next great war will begin, not on earth, but several thousand feet in the air.

Claude Grahame-White.

Harry Harper.

London, 1912.

CONTENTS

PREFACE

FIRST SECTION REVIEW OF PROGRESS PRIOR TO THE FIRST MILITARY TESTS OF AEROPLANES

I. Dawn of flight—Encouragement in Europe and America—England's lost opportunities—The pioneers.

II. First practical flights—The Wright brothers; the Voisins; Farman—The cross-Channel flight.

III. Aeroplanes at Rheims, 1909—Wright, Voisin, Farman, Blériot, Antoinette—The Gnome engine—First military orders.

IV. The human factor—Growing skill of airmen—Feats of 1910, as compared with those of 1909—Cross-country flying.

SECOND SECTION FIRST EXPERIMENTS WITH AEROPLANES IN THE FRENCH AUTUMN MANOEUVRES, 1910.

I. The historic Picardy tests—First official report upon movements of troops, as gleaned by aeroplane.

II. Second conclusive test—Detecting an army in retreat—France's determination to possess an air-fleet.

THIRD SECTION THE GROWING AIR-FLEETS OF FOREIGN NATIONS

I. Activity in France—Two hundred machines at the end of 1911; a thousand promised by the year 1914.

II. The great French tests of military aeroplanes—Striking results obtained—Era of fast, air-worthy, weight-carrying machines.

III. Germany's aerial policy—Secret energies in creating a fleet of war aeroplanes—Rivalry with France.

IV. Progress in Russia, America, and other countries-England's position in the autumn of 1911.

FOURTH SECTION IMPORTANCE OF ORGANISATION IN THE USE OF WAR AEROPLANES

I. French plans for the concerted use of squadrons of machines in time of war.

II. Value of air-stations—Selection of landing-grounds—Preparing air-maps.

FIFTH SECTION ENGLAND'S POSITION IN REGARDS TO MILITARY FLYING

I. Lessons which were ignored—Work of the Parliamentary Aerial Defence Committee.

II. Policy of moving cautiously—Peril of lagging behind in aerial armament.

III. The financial aspect—Money England is spending—The airship policy—Insufficient provision for aeroplanes.

IV. Dangers of a policy of drift—Experience which money cannot buy—Trained men, not so much as machines, the criterion of strength.

V. England's official awakening—The training of 100 airmen—The forthcoming trials of military machines.

SIXTH SECTION WAR AEROPLANES AT THE PARIS AERONAUTICAL EXHIBITION, DECEMBER, 1911

I. Latest-type military monoplanes—Two-seated, reconnoitring machines—Single-seated, high-speed aircraft.

II. Latest developments in biplane construction—The engine-in-front, weight-carrying machine.

III. Healthy position of the French industry—What England has lacked—Danger of neglecting home builders.

SEVENTH SECTION WHAT EXISTING WAR AEROPLANES CAN ACTUALLY ACCOMPLISH

I. Plight of a Commander-in-Chief without an aeroplane corps—The work of cavalry reconnaissance.

II. Work of a squadron of air-scouts described—Tasks of the pilot and observer—Combined reconnaissance by many machines—Effect of aeroplanes upon tactics.

III. Other uses of the war aeroplane—Surveying—Dispatch-carrying—Directing gun-fire—Transport of staff officers.

EIGHTH SECTION WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY AND PHOTOGRAPHY AS AIDS TO AERIAL RECONNAISSANCE

I. First tests and successes with wireless telegraphy—Difficulty of equipping an aeroplane with transmitting plant.

II. French triumphs with wireless telegraphy—Messages sent over a distance of thirty-five miles.

III. Practical uses of wireless upon aeroplanes—England's lack of effort.

IV. Photography from a war aeroplane—The use of special automatic cameras.

NINTH SECTION DEVELOPMENT OF ALL-WEATHER WAR AEROPLANES

I. Flights in thirty-five-mile-an-hour winds—Arguments of sceptics—What the great contests of 1911 proved.

II. Value of high speed, when combating a wind—Constructional difficulties of a hundred-mile-an-hour machine.

III. Variable-speed aeroplane—Plans for constructing aircraft of this type—Advantages of such a machine.

IV. Power-plant of aeroplanes—Fitting two engines to obviate involuntary descents.

TENTH SECTION THE TRAINING OF ARMY AIRMEN

I. French thoroughness—An expert's tribute—Sound training all-important.

II. How the military airman is schooled—His course of instruction described.

III. Rules for training—Dummy aeroplanes—A pupil's first hops.

IV. Cross-country flights—The vol plané—Difficulty of first observation tests from an aeroplane.

V. Finishing work at French schools—Practical tests—German thoroughness—Energy of English officers.

ELEVENTH SECTION THE COST OF WAR AEROPLANES

I. Why manufacturers charge high prices—Cost of experimental work—Building of trial machines.

II. Economy of a large military order for machines—The incidental expenses.

III. Question of renewals—General cheapness of an air-corps, as compared with other forms of armament.

OUR AERIAL PROGRAMME FOR 1912-13

TWELFTH SECTION PROBLEM OF ARTILLERY FIRE AND THE AEROPLANE

I. Conflicting opinions as to an aeroplane's vulnerability—Experiments which have been carried out.

II. Shrapnel shell—Question of hitting a vital part of the aeroplane—Difficulty of identifying friend or foe.

THIRTEENTH SECTION DESTRUCTIVE POTENTIALITIES OF WEIGHT-CARRYING AEROPLANES

I. What a modern-type machine can raise—Load of two men, and explosives.

II. Effect of aerial bombardment upon cities and troops—German tests.

FOURTEENTH SECTION WAR IN THE AIR BETWEEN HOSTILE AEROPLANES

I. Certainty of a combat between aeroplanes in actual warfare—Air-scouts protected by aerial cruisers.

II. An encounter in the air—Importance to an army of an aerial victory.

FIFTEENTH SECTION VALUE OF THE AEROPLANE IN NAVAL WARFARE

I. Machines for coastal and high-seas work—Question of flying in winds.

II. Interesting tests—Machines for rising from water, and landing on a ship's deck.

SIXTEENTH SECTION AERIAL WORK IN THE FRENCH AND GERMAN AUTUMN MANOEUVRES, 1911

I. French successes—Proof of the value of organisation—Flights in high winds.

II. Work in the German manœuvres—An instance of the utility of air-scouts—Reconnoitring from high altitudes.

III. Aeroplanes in actual warfare—What Italian airmen accomplished in Tripoli—Scouting and bomb-dropping under service conditions.

IV. A final word—Conclusions to be arrived at—Problems outstanding.

ILLUSTRATIONS

CLAUDE GRAHAME-WHITE. Winner of the Gordon-Bennett Aviation Cup, 1910; author of The Story of the Aeroplane; and joint author, with Harry Harper, of The Aeroplane: Past, Present, and Future, Heroes of the Air, and The Aeroplane in War.

THE NIEUPORT MONOPLANE. Photo, M. Branger. This exceedingly interesting machine, which won the great French Military Trials, is generally admitted to be one of the most efficient flying machines in existence. A similar machine can be seen at work in Hendon, where it is piloted by Mr. Grahame-White.

BRITISH-BUILT SCOUTING MONOPLANE. This aircraft, an exceedingly fast, single-seated machine, represents the type of machine now favoured by French authorities for urgent, rapid, general reconnaissance. Its constructors are Messrs. Short Brothers.

READY FOR A SCOUTING FLIGHT. Here a latest-type reconnoitring monoplane, with its observer in the front seat and the pilot behind him, is seen just about to start upon an aerial voyage. The machine is a British-built Bristol, such as will be used in the forthcoming military trials.

TWO-SEATED, BRITISH-BUILT WAR MACHINE. The Blackburn military-type monoplane, with accomodation for pilot and observer, has already made many successful flights; and it is expected to perform meritoriously in the War Office trials. In some respects it resembles the graceful Antoinette.

THE ENGINE-IN-FRONT BIPLANE. With the above machine—a type increasingly used for Service work—the Naval officers now experimenting at Eastchurch, Isle of Sheppy, have been carrying out recent tests. It was designed, and built, by Messrs. Short Brothers, who are now constructing special aeroplanes for Naval use.

MILITARY BIPLANE WITH TWO ENGINES. This exceedingly interesting machine, which possesses especial significance from the military point of view, is equipped with two Gnome motors. One drives two propellers placed in front of the main-planes, and the other actuates a single rear propeller. Normally, both engines run at easy speed; but, should one fail in flight, the other, by being accelerated, will maintain the machine in the air. Its designers and builders are Messrs. Short Brothers.

BUILDING WAR AEROPLANES. In this picture—taken in the Bristol works—skilled artizans are seen busy with the building of the bodies of a consignment of military-type monoplanes. Although apparently frail, these frameworks are—owing to their method of construction—immensely strong.

WEIGHT-CARRYING WAR BIPLANE. By Fitting extensions to the upper main-plane of the machine, as seen above, it is possible to achieve sustained flight with two, or even three occupants—or, should necessity arise, with a pilot and an appreciable load of explosives! The actual machine photographed is a Bristol, flying over the Brooklands aerodrome.

WAR MONOPLANES VOL PLANE. In the above picture, a two-seated, military type Bristol monoplane is seen descending, with engine stopped and propeller motionless, from a reconnoitring flight. Pilot and passenger are plainly discernable.

MAPS FOR MILITARY AIRMEN. Photo, M. Roe. The French authorities are busy with the preparation of a complete set of air maps for the use of the military pilots, when flying from point to point. A section of one of these maps—which are coloured—is illustrated above.

THE PILOT'S SEAT. Photo, M. Branger. In the illustration above is seen the driving seat of a military-type Blériot monoplane, with the airman's map, in its case, fixed immediately before him.

PILOT AND OBSERVER. Photo, M. Roe. The above photograph shows a military-type Breguet biplane, as used in the French manœuvres, with pilot and observer in their places.

MILITARY AIRMAN'S REPORT. Photo, M. Branger. After descending from a reconnoitring flight on a Blériot monoplane, in the French manœuvres, the pilot seen above is imparting details of what he has observed to another officer.

TRANSPORT OF WAR AEROPLANES Photo, M. Roe. In the manner depicted above—and also by means of motor lorries—were military aeroplanes transported from point to point during the French manœuvres.

MOTOR TRANSPORT. Photo, M. Branger. This picture shows how a Breguet military biplane, with its main-planes folded by the sides of its body, can be towed from point to point behind a motor-lorry.

TRAVELLING WORKSHOP. Photo, M. Branger. In the French manœuvres, a completely-equipped aeroplane repair shop, in the form of a motor-wagon, followed the military airmen as they moved from point to point. One of these invaluable ateliers is pictured above.

FIRST SECTION REVIEW OF PROGRESS PRIOR TO THE FIRST MILITARY TESTS OF AEROPLANES

I. Dawn of flight—Encouragement in Europe and America—England's lost opportunities—The pioneers.

In order to pave the way for a description of what the war aeroplane, as we know it to-day, can accomplish, it is necessary to trace—although only briefly—the development of the heavier-than-air machine during recent years.

One fact immediately claims the attention of any student of this question. He sees that England might to-day, had she not shown initial apathy, be the first nation in the world in the fostering, and development, of aerial navigation.

Instead of holding such a proud position, however—and any nation may well be proud of having encouraged this new art—we suffer for having displayed a lack of interest in the conquest of the air, and for having given practically no help to far-seeing enthusiasts who first devoted themselves to the great problem.

There was no lack of pioneers in England; but, instead of giving them assistance, we discouraged them, with the result that such countries as France and Germany—wide awake to all forms of progress—have moved forward from one triumph to another.

More than a hundred years ago, for instance, England had an opportunity of displaying a definite interest in flying. Sir George Cayley, a remarkably clever engineer, turned his attention to the design of a flying machine, and actually produced, in the year 1809, plans of a machine which anticipated many constructional features of the monoplane as it is built to-day. Of course there was not, in those days, any such efficient motive power as is now supplied by the petrol engine; but Sir George Cayley lectured upon his ideas, and sought to interest people in them. Had his deductions been greeted with enthusiasm, it is not probable that any successful flying machine would immediately have been produced; the difficulty of finding a reliable propelling medium would have prevented this. But what a ready and encouraging acceptance of Sir George Cayley's pioneer work would inevitably have done, would have been to turn the minds of other inventors towards the problem, and so pave the way for a series of discoveries, each more important than its predecessor.

The imaginations of those who might have exercised a great influence upon future progress were not fired, however; and the same remark applies to the efforts of those who followed in Sir George Cayley's footsteps, and endeavoured to give his ideas more practical shape.

Stringfellow and Henson, for example, pored over the great engineer's drawings, and produced working models of a flying machine. Their apparatus was crude, it is true; but this toil represented so many steps forward along the path of progress. It had been man's ambition, for centuries, to fly; success could not be expected without infinite labour. Nothing definite came of the work of these pioneers, however. They had little encouragement; they were regarded as cranks. The importance of the work they were engaged upon was not, indeed, realised.

Now, as a striking contrast, let us turn to the reception which early enthusiasts received in other countries. Let us take France, for example. Ader, an electrical engineer, devised, in 1896, a very ingenious, bat-like aeroplane. With it, having fitted a small steam-engine, he actually achieved a short flight—or, rather, a brief hop from the ground.

Instead of being greeted apathetically, or having his sanity doubted, Ader was promptly called to appear before the military authorities. They, after hearing his theories expounded, cheerfully voted him £20,000 in order that he might continue his experiments upon an adequate scale. Thus, even at this early stage, France revealed her keen interest in aerial navigation. Ader, lacking the petrol motor, could not carry his investigations much further. But the encouragement he received gave heart to other inventors. And so France went forward to success.

America offers another example of a sane, far-seeing policy. Professor Langley, an eminent scientist, was making a series of wonderfully interesting model aeroplanes at about the time Ader was experimenting in France. To further his work, the American authorities very promptly came forward with a grant of £10,000.

He, like Ader, was unable to carry his individual experiments to a successful issue; but further investigation, on the part of other workers, was greatly stimulated. It